Banana Oat Muffins

The Zucchini Applesauce Muffins that I've shared with you before are still a huge hit in our household, but I wanted to make up a second kind of muffin so that we can have a bit of a rotation with them. Following the same principle as the zucchini ones, I wanted to make a muffin that was both healthy for the boy-o AND delicious! These Banana Oat Muffins meet both of those criteria and they also freeze really well, which is certainly an additional perk.

Note: These muffins call for a little bit of honey, which is high on the allergen list for infants. So if you haven't tested out honey previously, you may want to leave it out of this recipe!

Banana Oat Muffins

Ingredients: 

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, not packed
• 1/2 cup Greek Yoghurt
• 1/3 cup  milk
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 TBSP honey 
• 1 1/2 TSP vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 TSP baking soda
• 2 TSP baking powder
• 1/2 TSP salt
• 1 TSP cinnamon
• 1 cup old fashioned oats

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg and brown sugar. Add in the yogurt, milk, applesauce, honey, and vanilla. Beat until combined.
3. Mash the bananas until there are no chunks left and stir in the mashed bananas with the yogurt and milk mixture.
4. In another medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and oats.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix or the muffins become more dense.
6. Pour the mixture into the muffin cups and fill almost to the top.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 13-15 minutes.

These muffins turn out nice and fluffy and they make an excellent breakfast choice with the oats, banana, applesauce, and greek youghurt for a bit of protein. These muffins freeze great and are totally boy-o approved!

Baby Friendly Zucchini Applesauce Muffins

Muffins make a great snack on the go--they're portable, delicious, and when they're made right, they can be quite healthy too! These muffins were made especially for the boy-o. They've been adapted so that the applesauce replaces the oil, the sugar has been halved, and I've substituted whole wheat flour in place of white flour. They were definitely a big hit and boy-o approved! The muffins stick to the wrappers a little bit because there's no oil, but they're so tasty you'll nibble all the crumbs right off!

Zucchini Applesauce Muffins (With Wholewheat Flour)

Ingredients:

- 3 eggs, beaten

- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

- 1 cup sugar

- 2 cups grated zucchini squash

- 1 TBS vanilla

- 3 cups wholewheat flour

- 1 TSP salt

- 3 TSP cinnamon

- 1/4 TSP baking powder

- 1 TSP baking soda

Directions:

1. Combine eggs, applesauce, and sugar. Mix till well blended. Add in zucchini and vanilla, mix.

2. Combine flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda together. Sift into wet mixture and stir thoroughly.

3. Fill lined muffin trays to half full and bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.